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Survey of
Historic Sites and Buildings

	CROSIADORE Maryland
Location: Talbot County, along Dickinson Bay, on a county road running west odd U.S. 50, about 3 miles southwest of Trappe.

John Dickinson was born in 1732 at this tidewater homestead along Maryland's Eastern Shore and lived there for about 8 years, until his family moved to what is now known as the Dickinson Mansion, near Dover, Del. His younger brother Philemon, a general during the War for Independence, was also born in the house.

The architectural history of this long, rambling frame structure, part of which apparently dates back to the early 18th century, is obscure. The four-bay, eastern part is a gambrel-roofed structure that is 1-1/2 stories in height. Triangular pediments top the windows. The western section is five bays wide and two bays deep. It rises 2-1/2 stories under a steeply pitched gable roof. A pavilion, on the north, or land, side is fronted by a huge portico, which is two stories in height and whose roof is flat and balustraded. Another pavilion, facing the bay, or to the south, has a two-story, galleried porch, each level of which is supported by four round columns. The dormers are gabled. A wide pediment with a center fanlight tops the porch.

The first floor of the eastern part of the residence contains the kitchen and a spacious and elaborately paneled Georgian drawing room. The hall, west of these two rooms, is divided in two by an arch. The stairway is set against the northern portion of the east wall of the hall.

In the western section of the house, a wide center hall divides the first floor into two large rooms, a sitting room to the west and dining room to the east. Both rooms have fireplaces. The stairway is against the west wall at the northern end of the hall. Bedrooms occupy the second and third floors.

Crosiadore, which was enlarged and restored in the 1940's and is in good condition, is a private residence and may not be visited by the public.